RUSH (Montgomery Men Book 1) (27 page)

At the bottom of the page was a signature that was supposed to be mine, but wasn’t.

“I didn’t sign this,” I whispered. “I’ve never even seen this.”

‘There’s more,” he replied as he placed his hand on my thigh. “Your father wrote you a letter.”

The tears I’d managed to hold at bay broke free and I hung my head. My body shook as I attempted to fight them off. I looked up just in time to see Ashton reach into the pocket of his suit jacket and pull out a folded piece of paper. “He wrote it when he completed his will. The date on the top shows it was a little less than a week before he passed.”

I took the paper as my hands trembled uncontrollably. With shaky fingers I unfolded the paper to find a letter addressed to me in my father’s neat handwriting. It was hard to see them through my tears, but there before me were the words he’d left for me.

My dearest Kinsley,

Your happiness means more to me than anything else ever could. You’ve given so much of your life already for my benefit, and that breaks my heart. You put on a happy face, one you think has fooled me, but I know my little girl. I know that within you lies a sadness that only getting your freedom could heal.

I’m sorry it took me this long to see that Jase isn’t the man that deserves you. You seem so lonely with him. I see it every time I look into those beautiful eyes of yours. I hate that sadness, and not saying something about it sooner will be the only regret I take with me.

I don’t know where that sadness comes from or why it’s there, but I do know that to be happy, truly happy, you need to be with someone who loves you the way I loved your mother.

Please promise me you’ll search for that.

Promise me you’ll live your life to the fullest and you’ll find the happiness I had. Because you and your mother were the greatest part of my life. The two of you gave me so much, and I want those same things for you in return.

I want you to find a man that will love you even during the hard times. I want you to feel secure enough to go to him with anything and know that no matter what you have to tell him, he will love you the same if not more because you confided in him.

Unconditional love is what I want for you. The way I’ve loved you your entire life.

It’s time to live, my sweet girl.

It is time to let go of all the things you believed were for the best and go after your own happiness.

And once you find it, promise me you’ll hold on tight and treasure every single precious moment of it.

I love you so very much, and I don’t want you to be alone. I can assure you I’ll be watching over you, waiting for that smile of yours. That same smile that has brightened some of my darkest days.

Both your mother and I will be smiling right along with you.

With my love always,

Dad

My entire body shook with deep sobs. The tears rolled along my cheeks and dripped onto the paper below as I continued to stare at my father’s words.

“He knew,” I whispered. “I always thought I hid it so well.”

“He loved you,” Ashton said in a soothing voice and he softly rubbed my back. “You can’t hide anything from someone when they love you that deeply.”

My throat felt raw and my body felt weak, and if I could find a dark place to hide in away from everyone and everything, I would. I’d take my father’s letter with me and cry this whole thing out for days. But crying really wasn’t my thing. I’d learned over the years that it only gave Jase what he wanted, so I refrained from doing it. But now I just wanted to mourn my father, to hold on to this piece of him, because I had nothing else.

“I don’t even know where my father is buried,” I confessed. “Or if he was even given a proper burial.” Ashton continued to rub my back as silence settled over us. “And the worst thought is, what if he wasn’t even buried? What if Jase just disposed of his ashes?”

I’d thought of that possibility often. Jase would be cruel enough to do something unthinkable like that to punish me for whatever I’d done wrong in his warped mind.

My heart literally ached within my chest.

“I’m gonna make a promise to you right now,” Ashton said as he lifted my chin and forced me to look at him. “I’m gonna find out what happened after he passed. I’m gonna make sure you get the closure you should have been given long ago. Trust me when I tell you that I’m doing everything I can to make this heartache and darkness go away.”

I nodded because at this point I couldn’t speak. My throat burned with sadness.

“I want to be that man your father was referring to in his letter,” Ashton confessed. “I want to give you the happiness he wished for you. Because, baby, I love you, and knowing you’ve been hurt and are still hurt from all of this breaks me.”

I closed my eyes to fight off the tears, but they rolled over my cheeks anyway. Yet before they could fall from my face, Ashton swept them away with his thumb. Then he kissed me, and for a brief moment all the pain that lay heavy on my chest faded, only to return when he pulled back and pressed his forehead to mine.

“I’m gonna give you all the things you deserve and more,” he promised. “He’s done hurting you.”

From the way he spoke those words, I knew he meant them. The intensity in his voice gave me the chills as a side of Ashton I was still unfamiliar with showed its face.

ASHTON

EVERY WORD SHE SPOKE AND
every move she made showed me Kinsley had been crushed by what I’d shown her. And it gutted me that I’d taken her beauty and turned it into sadness.

And that pissed me off.

I should feel bad for the way I was treating the people around me, but I didn’t. Nothing was coming fast enough or getting done the way I needed it to be.

I wanted results.

I wanted that son of a bitch to be in a fucking cell begging for his freedom. Only he was living in a fancy house in Miami like a goddamn king. And the girl I loved had become a walking zombie, just going through the motions of the day.

I’d never fucking felt this out of control.

The ringing of my cell phone pulled my out of my near panic attack. Knoxville’s name appearing on the screen was the exact thing I needed at this point.

“Tell me you found it.” I didn’t focus on pleasantries, because I had nothing pleasant within me right now. “I’m going out of my mind, Knox, and I need something that’s gonna bring us one step closer to the end of all this hell.”

“He’s buried in a small cemetery less than fifteen miles from the home she lived in with Jase.”

A huge sense of relief washed over me. I’d hoped he was laid to rest and not cremated and disposed of. Knoxville’s findings were one piece of this mess that had turned out like I’d hoped.

“There was never a headstone, or a service for that matter,” he continued. “But after some digging I found his location.”

Nothing about that surprised me. “And the rest of it?” I asked.

“It’s amazing what a group of scorned and fucked-over clients from the Hellmans’ past are willing to do in order to bring them down.” Knoxville chuckled.

“So you’re saying—?”

“I’m saying we just had the twenty-seventh person file charges against the Hellmans for their past illegal activities. And among those twenty-seven, you’ll never guess who they’ve wronged.” Knox paused for dramatic effect.

“Who?” I asked irritably.

“Rance Jordan,” he announced proudly.

“Should I know who the hell that is?”

“No,” he chuckled. I was just about to tell him I wasn’t in the mood for any shit when he went on. “It would seem that Bruce and Jase are about to meet the new district attorney of Miami, Florida. And he has a huge reason to dislike them.”

“They fucked him over,” I said, feeling a little lighter than before.

“Nope, but they fucked over his stepfather and mother. Now Mr. Jordan wants nothing more than to bring them both down for what they cost the two people he loves the most. His stepfather and mother lost everything.”

Finally, we had a fucking break.

“It’s all gonna work out, brother,” he assured me. “The two of them have been living off the hardship of others for far too long. It’s time they pay for everything they’ve done. Their end is coming, Ash, and when it does, I’ll make sure both you and Kinsley have a front-row seat to their hell.”

For the first time in what felt like forever, justice seemed to be on our side.

Soft music graced the air as I exited the elevator, making this the first time in the last week that I hadn’t come home to depressing silence.

I laid my keys on the table near the entryway and walked to the great room in search of Kinsley. I rounded the corner and came to a screeching halt at the sight before me. Long ringlets of pure blond perfection. Seeing it right in front of me was so different than seeing it on a missing-person poster.

She didn’t seem to have heard me come in yet, as she continued to pull books from the box at her feet and place them on a shelf. I just watched her for a few minutes, not saying anything. She appeared much more relaxed than she had lately, almost like herself once again.

“It’s beautiful,” I said, causing her to spin around and face me. “The color,” I clarified, pointing toward her hair. “It’s so much better than I’d imagined.”

She lifted her hand and carefully combed it through her hair, letting it slowly fall through her fingers. “I convinced Kevin to escort my stylist upstairs and made him promise not to tell you or Murray. I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“It is.” I walked toward her and stopped within inches of her. Now it was my turn to run my fingers through her hair.

“I’ve thought about what you said,” she said, causing me to focus on her gorgeous eyes. “And I’m tired of hiding. I’m tired of pretending I’m someone else.” Her eyes glossed over as she shrugged. “I just want to be Kinsley; the girl I was before Jase broke her.”

“You’re still her, baby.” I stepped closer and wrapped her in my arms. “You’re beautiful and strong.”

“You make me that way,” she assured me.

“It seems we have that effect on one another.” She had changed me so much without even trying. “It’s because of you that I now know the true love of a woman. I love you so much, Kinsley. All I want is your happiness. And over the last few days, I’ve been so worried about you.”

“I just needed time to cope, I guess,” she confessed. “The letter, the will. It was all a shock.”

“I know.” I hugged her close and thought about telling her the location of her father, then changed my mind. I would tell her when I could take her to visit his grave, not when we were still forced to stay in New York.

But that time was coming. Jase and Bruce had better enjoy their last days of freedom, because things were about to get messy.

KINSLEY

I HAD ONCE AGAIN FOUND
the peace I’d felt before Ashton confronted me about the lies I’d told him. For weeks now I’d slowly come to terms with my father’s death and my past. I accepted that I may never have the closure I needed, but I was okay with that. I had to be.

I had Ashton, and his family, who were the most amazing, accepting people I’d ever met. They now knew everything about me, the good and the bad, yet they still welcomed me with open arms.